Dynamics of the Property Market

Abstract

Chapter 2 investigates the significance of the property market in medieval Cambridge. It considers how far the property market at this time anticipated the urban property markets of today. Detailed information on the Cambridge property market is provided in the Hundred Rolls. A unique feature of the Rolls, compared to other sources such as rentals, is that they record all the rents paid on a property and not just the rent paid to one particular lord, such as the king or local lay lord. The rolls show that many properties paid multiple rents. With full information on each of these rents it possible to analyse separately the total rent paid and the various components of this rent going to individual lords. Chapter 2 introduces the statistical methods required to address these issues and reports the results obtained by applying them.